PAUPERISM — OLD AGE PENSIONS — FINANCE
357
Pauperism.
The Dominion is divided into districts, with elective boards for the administration of the public hospitals and charitable relief. The Government subsidises bequests at the rate of 10s. in the pound ; voluntary contributions, 245. in the pound ; and contributions by local authorities, according to a sliding scale, ranging from 125. Sd. in the pound to 245. 3c/. in the pound, according to the value of rateable property within the <li<<trict. The total expenditure on Charitable Aid during the year ended 31st March, 1912, was 98,822Z. During 1911 the benevolent asylums accommodated 2,649 inmates. 2,617 children (1,594 boys and 1,023 girls) were wholly or partly maintained by the Government in industrial schools and other institutions.
Old Age Pensions.
In 1898 an Act, amended in 1905 and consolidated in 1908, provided for old-age pensions. Every person, not an alien or an Asiatic, who fulfils certain conditions, is entitled to a pension of 261. a year. The joint annual income of a married couplo in receipt of pensions must not exceed 90/. (including pensions). Total pensions on March 31, 1912, 16,649, represent- ing a yearly payment of 416,530/., the average pension being 25Z. 05. id.
Finance.
The following table of revenue is exclusive of sales and rents of land : —
Year ended March 31
Customs
Stamps, in- cluding Post and Teleg.
Railways
Land Tax
Income Tax
Total
(including
others)
1908 1909 1910 1911 1912
£ 3,103,565 2,801,248 2,671,121 3,027,820 3,279,012
£ 1,550,934 1,501,327 1,537,352 1,847,405 2,032,006
£ 2,765,395 2,018,507 3,258,263 3,483,755 3,605,613
£ 537,846 604,901 642.270 628,723 647,015
£ 304,905 321,044 316,835 407,235 448,935
£ 8,766,342
8,778,328
8,068,532
0,086,120
10,721,387
Receipts from sales of land for 1911-12, 66,505/., revenue from rents of pastoral runs, &c., 244,652/.
The following expenditure table is exclusive of sums paid to the Publio Works Fund ; —
Year ended' ^^^^^j^ March 31 cfarJ;^
Railways
£ 1,963,428
2,120,087 2,168,189 2,270,814 2,467,718
Education
Post and Telegraph
Constabulary and Defence
Total
(including
others)
£
1908 2,187,427
1909 2,258,365
1910 2,397,462
1911 ! 2,458,452
1912 1 2,656,344
£ 843,311 874,818 936,875 084,854 1,020,336
£ 707,146 806,203 855,862 911,520 086,527
£ 372,602 404,630 450,846 480,805 603,070
£ 8,213,965 8,785,513 8,990,022 0,343,106 10,340,368
Budget estimates, 1912-1913 : Revenue, 11,005,680/ ; expenditure, 10,863,068/.
The total expenditure out of the Public Works Fund from 1870 to March 31, 1912, was 55,027,466/., inchuling charges and expenses for raising loans.
The rate of the ordinary land tax for 1909-10 was Id. in the pound on the unimproved value. There is also a gra\luated tax on land, rising from one-sixtoonth of a penny in tlie pound on unimproved values from 5,000/. to 7,000/., thence by progressive increases on values up to 200,000/. or over,
